I'm a stupid fan boy with too much time who wasted hours of his life reading up on them. Plus I don't speak or read Japanese so Shinnbone has my balls in a vise grip right now.

Are you talking about the Shure 840? I think that was the 2nd headphone I ever owned? A lot has changed since then and I've gone through a dozen headphones in the past 3 years or so and several amps and dacs. My audio memory on the 840 is very fuzzy at best, especially since I didn't really like it too much for the month or so that I owned it. As an educated guess I would think the 7520 is superior in every category you mentioned, but then again they're not even the same price bracket so... but then again the 840 might be good enough depending on your purpose. What will you be using to drive/listen to the 840? What kind of music?

You're too humble my friend. :)

Well I can get MDR-Z1000 easily here but not MDR-7520. The price for MDR-Z1000 is almost $450.

So far I hear more good thing in 7520 than Z1000.

Several concerns in Z1000 as most of you have mentioned discouraged me from getting it like bass rolled off and also the narrow sound stage relative to 7520.

This is the reason I want to consider alternative cans that the sound signature very close to MDR-7520.

My music taste is very wide from dance, pop, acoustics, vocal, electronic...etc

If Shure 840 is not near to 7520's sound signature, let me know other alternative.

I'm a stupid fan boy with too much time who wasted hours of his life reading up on them. Plus I don't speak or read Japanese so Shinnbone has my balls in a vise grip right now.

Are you talking about the Shure 840? I think that was the 2nd headphone I ever owned? A lot has changed since then and I've gone through a dozen headphones in the past 3 years or so and several amps and dacs. My audio memory on the 840 is very fuzzy at best, especially since I didn't really like it too much for the month or so that I owned it. As an educated guess I would think the 7520 is superior in every category you mentioned, but then again they're not even the same price bracket so... but then again the 840 might be good enough depending on your purpose. What will you be using to drive/listen to the 840? What kind of music?

You're too humble my friend. :)

Well I can get MDR-Z1000 easily here but not MDR-7520. The price for MDR-Z1000 is almost $450.

So far I hear more good thing in 7520 than Z1000.

Several concerns in Z1000 as most of you have mentioned discouraged me from getting it like bass rolled off and also the narrow sound stage relative to 7520.

This is the reason I want to consider alternative cans that the sound signature very close to MDR-7520.

My music taste is very wide from dance, pop, acoustics, vocal, electronic...etc

If Shure 840 is not near to 7520's sound signature, let me know other alternative.

The SRH 940 has a much flatter FR curve than the 840 which is more of a "hot" V shaped FR curve. As for the difference in sound etc I have no clue.

Another closed headphone with relatively flat FR curve is the Beyerdynamic DT660. But it's not really in the same league as either the SRH940 or MDR7520

In the past I had read about SRH940 but never actual listening to it. :(

Some of the head-fiers claim that SRH840 has better sound than SRH940 despite the later is much more expensive in term of price.

I just curious if AKG K550 or even Beyer DT880 will sound closer to the sound signature of MDR-7520 based on the actual listening because sometimes the graph does not really tell the actual listening experience.

In the past I had read about SRH940 but never actual listening to it. :(

Some of the head-fiers claim that SRH840 has better sound than SRH940 despite the later is much more expensive in term of price.

I just curious if AKG K550 or even Beyer DT880 will sound closer to the sound signature of MDR-7520 based on the actual listening because sometimes the graph does not really tell the actual listening experience.

I tend to read a lot about the SRH940 being very analytical sounding, which made me think it was a good match for the 7520. I've not had a chance to listen to either actually. If I had to pick from those two or the two you listed I'd probably try the DT880 first given my experience with Beyerdynamics. But it's an open back hp. The DT660 is supposed to have a similar sound signature in a closed model.

I tend to read a lot about the SRH940 being very analytical sounding, which made me think it was a good match for the 7520. I've not had a chance to listen to either actually. If I had to pick from those two or the two you listed I'd probably try the DT880 first given my experience with Beyerdynamics. But it's an open back hp. The DT660 is supposed to have a similar sound signature in a closed model.

Then just STOP! No phones, no opinion, period. Seriously, no offence, but this is the worst thing that is happening on this board. To much speculations, guessing, and reiteration of what others said.

Audio perception is a very personal and subjective thing, telling what someone else is "hearing" is not helping.

And to answer the previous poster question, K550/DT880 have very little in common with 7520.

Umm... well no... did you not read what I wrote? The 7520 is better. haha. Sorry. Unless you're talking specifically about timbre.......................................... It's a typical studio monitoring type of sound it's either a love or hate thing IMO. I fall on the love side of it obviously.

Umm..... did you not read what I wrote? Yes, I was talking specifically about timbre! ;) Thanks for clarifying what you meant by timbre!

In the past I had read about SRH940 but never actual listening to it. :(

Some of the head-fiers claim that SRH840 has better sound than SRH940 despite the later is much more expensive in term of price.

I just curious if AKG K550 or even Beyer DT880 will sound closer to the sound signature of MDR-7520 based on the actual listening because sometimes the graph does not really tell the actual listening experience.

FWIW I currently own both the 7520 and 840s.

Summary:

Sony 7520 - delicate smooth highs with excellent dynamics

Shire 840 - Slightly rolled off sounding with minor peaks in highs

Sony 7520 - Open detailed mids without sounding glarish or analytical, great depth, neutral yet slightly set back presentation

I just curious if AKG K550 or even Beyer DT880 will sound closer to the sound signature of MDR-7520 based on the actual listening because sometimes the graph does not really tell the actual listening experience.

K550 has emphasis on high mids and highs. To my ears, the higher frequencies are not just emphasized, but also sounds a little weird. Bass is quite weak.

I've only heard the 600-ohm version of the DT880 through a Benchmark DAC1. Quite nice sounding with a clear emphasis on the highs. It's open, so it can sound more speaker-like. 600-ohm version definitely needs to be amped.

7520 has more bass and better tonal balance than either. I think 7520 is clearly better than the K50. From the Benchmark, the 7520 held its own against the DT880. But for home listening with a decent DAC/amp, I prefer open cans. So as far as I'm concerned, open and closed cans are for different uses and can't really be compared.

If you can find a pair, the AKG K545 may work for you. Compared to the K550, the K545 has a lot more bass, and the higher frequencies sound quite a bit more natural. The K545 to my ears has more lively high mids and highs than the 7520. I think the K545 was designed as portable-use headphones (only comes with 2 very short cables), and not in the same class as the 7520, but they are still very good.

It's all confusing, but in the end, this line of discussion is pretty pointless given that no mastering engineer working for a big record label worth his salt will ever mix using a headphone. They will use monitoring speakers to complete 99.99% of the mix and then use headphones as a final check and in fact can do the entire work without headphones. No headphone is as neutral and as reliable as studio monitoring speakers...................... Almost every big studio I've seen in Asia just has a Sony MDR-7506 or a 7509 and nothing really beyond that. I hear that some studios did buy up some 7520, but a lot of them don't feel the need to move beyond the 7509 they already have set up.................. I did hear of a studio in Britain buying up three 7520s to use in their studio, but that's probaby an anomally as well.

Mastering engineers working for big record labels may well rely more upon studio monitors than headphones, but headphones are widely used for mixing:- http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec03/articles/mixingheadphones.htm That's exactly why the 7520's are an important headphone - the 7506 is good enough for tracking and monitoring, but not usually regarded as good enough for mixing, whereas the 7520's are better than a lot of near field monitors costing many times as much.

Almost every big studio throughout the world has 7506's and 7509's! Sony professional headphones have long been the industry standard - it would seem very unlikely that studios will not eventually replace their 7509/7509HD's with 7520's. Where did you hear about a studio in Britain buying some 7520's? Is that in addition to the information about David Gilmour buying some for his studio which I shared, and the mention earlier in the thread about Abby Road buying them up before the were discontinued in the UK?

As far as the intended application of the Z1000, 7520 discussion is concerned, I suspect that Sony uses it's studio reputation (which started AFAIK when the MDR-V6 became widely used in studios and then Sony made a 'professional' version of it with the 7506) to market and promote new headphones. It seems to me that's what happened with the Z1000. Sony's pro headphones have long been distinguished by a 'professional' sticker and have the familiar all black colour scheme and coiled cable, so despite the information on the Japanese site about the Z1000 being designed for studio work, it clearly wasn't intended as part of their professional range. If it was, why would they have introduced the 7520? I seem to recall similar 'pro application' marketing for the MDR-R1...................